Alumilite question.

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samuel07

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I saw on thier website that they sugest vacuum or pressure for bubble free castings. Is this needed for colored blanks? Also any suggestions for dyes?

Thanks,
 
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Ravenbsp

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I've used alumalite without vacuum without to much trouble for other applications. I do find the stuff a bit brittle though It may just be that my stock is getting a little old.

Uncolored, it does make a nice faux-ivory. They do dffer pigments, I've used black and it just increased the cure time a bit. Otherwise, no change.
 

MesquiteMan

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If you plan to use Alumilite Water Clear, you definately need to pressure cast. If you don't you will get lots of little champagne type bubbles. Bryan is using regular Alumilite which does not have this issue but is also not clear. If you are going to be coloring it than you could use the regular that he mentions and save yourself some money. The only thing is the regular sets a lot faster than the clear which makes is a little harder to work with since you have to rush.

Bryan, as for being brittle, you might want to check your material. Alumilite is a lot less brittle than most other casting plastics, especially PR.
 

BRobbins629

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You may also want to try using an ultrasonic cleaner to degas the material. The bubbles are dissolved in solution and treating the resin to about 5 to 10 minutes in a container in about 1/2" of water in jewelry cleaner (or commercial unit if you have)will get most if not all of them out. Also if you are casting around tubes, it lets you use little or no pressure so there is less chance of getting resin in the tubes. This techinque has greatly improved my clear casts - does the same thing as vacuum which gets the gas out of solution. Pressure just helps keep what bubbles are left in solution.
 

MesquiteMan

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Hey Bruce,

Have you tried your ultrasonic with Alumilite yet? The reason I ask is that Alumilite has a very short pot life with an open time of only 5 minutes. I don't think it would do much good to do each part and then mix since mixing would introduce new air. You would almost have to pour it into your mould and then put all of it in the ultrasonic until the resin set. I have zero experience with ultrasonic, I am just thinking outloud. If you have not tried Alumilite and would be willing to experiment with it, shoot me a PM and I will see if I can send you some of mine to play with.
 

BRobbins629

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Originally posted by MesquiteMan
<br />Hey Bruce,

Have you tried your ultrasonic with Alumilite yet? The reason I ask is that Alumilite has a very short pot life with an open time of only 5 minutes. I don't think it would do much good to do each part and then mix since mixing would introduce new air. You would almost have to pour it into your mould and then put all of it in the ultrasonic until the resin set. I have zero experience with ultrasonic, I am just thinking outloud. If you have not tried Alumilite and would be willing to experiment with it, shoot me a PM and I will see if I can send you some of mine to play with.

Have not tried Alumilite yet, but it is on my list of things to try. Thanks for the offer - perhaps after the holidays, but a little busy now to experiment. If Alumilite is a 2 part system, I would use the ultrasonics before mixing. Yes, mixing can introduce more air, but I have done this with PR before adding catalyst and if you stir carefully, it works. While it won't get the bubbles that are there from mixing, it surely will take care of the dissolved air that is already there and allow for lower pressure casts. When I pressure cast now, I do it at only 5-10 psi where before ultrasonics I was at 25 psi. Since I started this, I have yet to get resin in a tube and before I got too many that way. I have done several PR casts with ultrasonics and no pressure and at least 3/4 of the casts have been bubble free and only 1 or 2 small bubbles in the rejects.
 

samuel07

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I appologize for maybe confusing the matter.
All I really want to do is pour my own colored blanks using PVC pipe for a mold. My question should have been do I need to do this under pressure with the alumilite for this aplication and do I need the water clear type if I am just going to add color anyway?
Sorry for the confusion.
 
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